Last night while shopping at ALDI, I let my two year old help push the cart. It spared a lot of screaming for everyone in the store and she was having a blast doing it. At first she was standing on her tip toes trying to reach the handle so I was basically pushing, then she figured out she could push from her level and the cart would go faster. I was holding on to the cart to keep in under control... until we go to the watermelons. As I bent down to pick out a watermelon (letting go of the cart), my little 15th percentile pushed the cart into a lady who was looking at fruit. The lady made a face, but didn't look over, obviously very mad. I immediately picked up my girl and apologized to the lady, who still refused to even look at us. I got onto my girl and explained what she had done. She cried. She felt bad. As I pushed the cart around the lady I said, "Again, I am so sorry." And again, she didn't even look at us.
Well, it made me mad- to say the least. I get that my little girl nailed her pretty good with the cart and I should have been watching her more closely at that moment, but here's the deal- SHE'S TWO! It was an accident and if anything was my fault! But what upset me the most was how she didn't even turn to look at us. Never once acknowledged us. What did that teach my child? She could have said, "It's ok." (even if she didn't mean it) or she could have said, "Hey little girl be careful that hurt." or she could have said, "Hey lady get control of your kid." (which would have probably started a fight because it was an ACCIDENT!) I would have preferred some sort of acknowledgment over none.
Then, I got to thinking that this sort of thing is exactly what is wrong with our country. What ever happened to compassion and forgiveness?
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